The Hero’s Journey: A new model for protean career change

Authors

  • Saira Iqbal

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.20856/jnicec.5105

Keywords:

Protean career, career theory, career transition, career change, narrative counselling

Abstract

The protean career is a values-driven and self-directed career where individuals seek greater independence in their work. Despite its increasing prevalence, the ways in which a protean career might develop over time outside of a traditional organisational setting is under-researched. This article draws from a dissertation research project exploring how nine protean career-changers narratively construct and understand their protean career path outside of the organisational setting. A new model of protean career change is proposed; it suggests that protean career change can be understood based on a narrative template known as the Hero’s Journey. This model can be utilised by career practitioners and researchers to understand, facilitate, and optimise protean career change.

References

AbouAssi, K., McGinnis J. J., & Holt, S. B. (2019). Job mobility among millennials: Do they stay or do they go? Review of Public Personnel Administration, 41(2), 219-249. https://doi.org/10.1177/0734371X19874396

Arksey, H., & Knight, P. (1999). Interviewing for social scientists: An introductory resource with examples. Sage.

Atkinson, R. (1998). The life story interview. SAGE Publications, Inc

Aviva (2021). How we live. Executive report. https://www.aviva.co.uk/aviva-edit/in-thenews-articles/how-we-live-2/

Bakhri, S. & Mahfudz, S. (2020). Opportunities and challenges of the protean career concept: A review and future agenda. In S. Bangsawan et al (eds), The future opportunities and challenges of business in digital era 4.0, 333-337. Taylor and Francis.

Bardon, T., Brown, A.D., & Pezé, S. (2017). Identity regulation, identity work and phronesis. Human Relations, SAGE Publications, 70 (8), pp.940-965. https://doi.org/10.1177/001872671668072

Baruch, Y., & Rousseau, D. M. (2019) Integrating psychological contracts and ecosystems in career studies and management. Academy of Management Annals, 13(1). https://10.5465/annals.2016.0103

Baruch, Y., & Vardi, Y. (2016). A fresh look at the dark side of contemporary careers: Toward a realistic discourse. British Journal of Management, 27(2), 355-372. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8551.12107

Boklage, A., Coley, B., & Kellam, N. (2019). Understanding engineering educators’ pedagogical transformations through the Hero’s Journey. European Journal of Engineering Education, 44(6), 923-938. https://doi.org/10.1080/03043797.2018.1500999

British Psychological Society (2021). Code of human research ethics. https://www.bps.org.uk/guideline/bps-code-human-research-ethics

Campbell, J. (1956) The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Meridian Books.

Cochran, L. (1991). Life-shaping Decisions. New York: Peter Lang

Cooper, H. (2020). Taxi! A narrative study of low-skilled work from a career boundary perspective. [Dissertation, Birkbeck, University of London].

Cooper, H., & MacKenzie Davey, K. (2011). Teaching for life? Midlife narratives from female classroom teachers who considered leaving the profession. British Journal of Guidance & Counselling, 39(1), 83-102. https://doi.org/10.1080/03069885.2010.531386

Crowley-Henry, M., & Weir, D. (2007). The international protean career: The four women’s narratives. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 20(2), 245–258. https://doi.org/10.1108/09534810710724784

Denzin, N. K. (1989). Interpretive Biography. Sage.

Duffy, J. T. (2010). A heroic journey: Re-conceptualizing adjustment disorder through the lens of the hero’s quest. Journal of Systemic Therapies, 29(4), 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1521/jsyt.2010.29.4.1

Elliot, J. (2005). Using narrative in social research. Sage Publications.

Duffy, J. T., & Guiffrida, D. A. (2014). The heroic supervisor: Using the hero’s journey to facilitate development in supervisors-in-training. The Clinical Supervisor, 33(2), 144-162. https://doi.org/10.1080/07325223.2014.978587

Gubler, M., Arnold, J., & Coombs, C. (2014). Organizational boundaries and beyond: A new look at the components of a boundaryless career orientation, Career Development International, 19(6), 641-667. https://doi.org/10.1108/CDI-11-2013-0143

Gubrium, J. F., & Holstein, J. A. (1998). Narrative practice and the coherence of personal stories. Sociological Quarterly, 39(1), 163-187. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4121016

Hall, E. T. (1976). Beyond culture. Anchor Press/Double day.

Hall, D.T. (2002). Careers in and out of organisations. Sage Publications.

Hall, D.T. (2004). The Protean Career: A Quarter-Century Journey. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 65, 1-13. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2003.10.006

Hall, D. T., Yip, J., & Doiron, K. (2018). Protean careers at work: Self-direction and values orientation in psychological success. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology & Organizational Behavior, 5, 129–156. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurevorgpsych-032117-104631

Hartley, J. (2010). Mapping our journey: The hero’s journey as a therapeutic approach. In I. Clarke (Ed.), Psychosis and spirituality: Consolidating the new paradigm (pp. 227-238). John Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470970300

Hirschi, A. (2018). The Fourth Industrial Revolution: Issues and Implications for Career Research and Practice. Career Development Quarterly, 66, 192-204. https://doi.org/10.1002/cdq.12142

Hite, L. M., & McDonald, K. S. (2020). Careers after COVID-19: challenges and changes. Human Resource Development International, 23(4), 427-437. https://doi.org/10.1080/13678868.2020.1779576

Hoyer, P. (2020). Career identity: An ongoing narrative accomplishment. In A.D. Brown (Eds.). Oxford handbook of identities in organizations. Oxford University Press.

Ibarra, H.( 2004). Working identity: Unconventional strategies for reinventing your career.Harvard Business School Press.

Ibarra, H. (2007). Identity transitions: possible selves, liminality and the dynamics of voluntary career change. INSEAD Working Paper 2007/31/OB. INSEAD

Lieblich, A., Tuval-Mashiach, R., & Zilber, T. (1998). Narrative research: Reading, analysis, and interpretation. Sage.

Mahler, E. B., & Hoare, C. H. (2010). Defining 21st century career success through the lens of work role transition narratives. Paper presented at the Academy of Management Conference, Montreal.

McAdams, D. P. (1997). A conceptual history of personality psychology. Handbook of Personality Psychology (pp. 3-39). Academic Press.

McDonald, P., Brown, K., & Bradley, L. (2005). Have traditional career paths given way to protean ones? Evidence from senior managers in the Australian public sector. Career Development International, 10(2), 109–129. https://doi.org/10.1108/13620430510588310

McIlveen, P., & Creed, A. (2018). Counseling case formulation as metaphor. In A. Di Fabio & J-L. Bernaud (Eds) Narrative interventions in post-modern guidance and career counseling (pp. 77-86). Springer.

Mintz, R. (2003). The scripts we live by: How individuation, proteanism and narrative disruption relate to personal transformation and renewal. [Dissertation, Fielding Graduate Institute].

Patton, M. (2002). Qualitative Research and Evaluation Methods, (3rd ed). Sage.

Polkinghorne, D. E. (1988). Narrative knowing and the human sciences. Suny Press.

Reitman, F., & Schneer, J. A. (2003). The promised path: A longitudinal study of managerial careers. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 18(1), 60-75. https://doi.org/10.1108/02683940310459592

Savickas, M. L. (2001). A developmental perspective on vocational behaviour: Career patterns, salience, and themes. International Journal for Educational and Vocational Guidance, 1(1), 49-57.

Sullivan, S.E., & Arthur, M.B. (2006). The Evolution of the Boundaryless Career Concept: Examining Physical and Psychological Mobility. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 69, 19-29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2005.09.001

Sullivan, S. E., & Baruch, Y. (2009). Advances in career theory and research: A critical review and agenda for future exploration. Journal of Management, 35(6), 1542. 1571. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206309350082

Super, D. E. (1990). A life-span, life-space approach to career development. In D. Brown & L. Brooks, Career choice and development: Applying contemporary theories to practice (pp. 197–261). Jossey-Bass.

Tonkin, E. (1995). Narrating our pasts: The social construction of oral history. Cambridge University Press.

Van Gennep, A. (1960). The rites of passage. Routledge.

Vogler, C. (2007). The writer’s journey: Mythic structure for writers (3rd ed.). Michael Wiese.

Watts, S. (2014). User skills for qualitative analysis: Perspective, interpretation and the delivery of impact. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 11(1), 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1080/14780887.2013.776156

Williams, C. (2016). A mudmap for living: A practical guide to daily living based on Joseph Campbell’s the Hero’s Journey. http://amudmapforliving.com.au/

Williams, C. (2019). The hero’s journey: A mudmap for change. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 59(4), 522-539. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022167817705499

Wolf, C. (2019). Not lost in translation: Managerial career narratives and the construction of protean identities. Human Relations, 72(3), 505–533. https://doi.org/10.1177/0018726718778094

Young, R. A., Friesen, J. D., & Borycki, B. (1994). Narrative structure and parental influence in career development. Journal of Adolescence, 17(2), 173-191. https://doi.org/10.1006/jado.1994.1017

Downloads

Published

31-10-2023